Monster
by Ultimate Scar Fan
Summary: He has survived, he is evil, he has no ambitions anymore. He struggles between good and bad. He meets friends. He makes enemies.
1. Defying Fate

"I killed** MUFASA**!" I spat in Simba's face. The hyenas ran at the gold lion pinning me down, pushing him off me. The lionesses attacked too, one of them kicking me in the face. I snarled and got up, shaking my fur and slunk off to the path that led up to the top of Pride Rock, my brain worked quickly and I formed a plan that if I could get up to the top quick enough, I could surprise my nephew when he was looking for me.

I sensed a presence behind me, I turned my head, eyes widening at the sight of Simba, damn it, I hadn't been quick enough. I snapped my head back on the path in front of me and bounded up to the top of Pride Rock. I leapt through some flames that flared up in front of me and skidded a little on the ground as my feet found the surface once again. I raced over to the edge of the Rock and stared down at the peak below, stared down at either my or Simba's fate. I was in jammed in a corner, brilliant.

"Murderer…" I hear behind me. I turn, sinking low to the ground as Simba walked up to me. The rock just arrived to my metaphor of the situation I was in…If only I could remember what it was called...

"Simba, Simba please, please have mercy, I beg you." I pleaded, until I could think of a plan, I would bide my time, make him think, make him grieve.

"You don't deserve to live." He snarled. It was true…But I wasn't going down without a fight.

"But, Simba…I…Am, er…" I paused in thought, what would make this lion crack? "Family…" I panted, Simba kept walking forward, I decided to change tactic. "It's the hyenas who are the real enemy, it was their fault; it was their idea."

"Why should I believe you?" Simba growled, looming over my hunched body. "Everything you ever told me was a lie." Not everything, I still despise guessing games and I did kill Mufasa.

"What are you going to do?" I looked up at him, for the second time in my life, I was truly afraid. The first involved my distinctive facial feature, and namesake. "You wouldn't kill your own Uncle, would you?" I added quickly, knowing that Simba would do anything _not_ to kill someone; that would make him like me.

"No Scar, I'm not like you." He growled. What can I say? I'm a natural at this.

"Oh, Simba, thank you," I sighed in relief, now was the time to play the 'I'm-so-grateful-you-are-wonderful' tactic. "You are truly noble, I'll make it up to you, I promise. And how can I prove myself to you? Tell me, anything at all."

"Run, run away, Scar, and _never _return." He returned me to that day, that day when Mufasa died at my paws and boosted me up in the hierarchy list.

"Yes," I dragged out the word and slinked around him, my belly centimetres to the floor, my acid green eyes never leaving Simba's. I spotted a burning pile of coal, I wasn't stepping down just yet; it had gone too far to let my kingdom go now. "Of course," I stopped at the pile of coal, my eyes slowly turning to the ground. "As you wish, your _**MAJESTY!**_" I spat, flicking the ash into Simba's face.

He let out a roar of pain and turned to flick it out of his eyes. I took that opportunity to leap at him, my claws sunk into his fur, my jaw locking onto his neck, gnawing away. He rolled onto his side and then got up, now facing me; I slammed him onto his back and bit at his neck, the paws pushing on my narrow chest stopping me from crushing his windpipe. Suddenly, his paw came up and hit me square in the face, knocking me away, my nephew soon got up and leapt at me, his forepaws slamming into my shoulders. I stepped back and momentarily went down onto all four paws, Simba used the slam-Uncle-in-face method again, but it was much lighter this time.

I rose back onto my hind legs and struck my claws down his face, on both sides of it. He roared and there was a lot of pushing and shoving, then Simba rose up and brought his paw down on my face, yes again.

The hit was the hardest yet and almost knocked me to the ground, but I managed to regain some balance. I slapped my nephew straight back and he was knocked off balance long enough for me to stand up and hit him again with enough force that it knocked him back onto the hard stone.

I leapt after him, soaring through a wall of fire, the flames licking my mane, my forelegs outstretched and my mouth open to reveal my set of teeth. I saw Simba look at me, bare his teeth and then – just as I was about to land on top of him and sink my teeth into his neck – a force came up and kicked me in the stomach, sending me off the ledge and falling, falling off of Pride Rock, the most undesirable way to go. My body slammed into jutting rocks and then onto the hard ground at the bottom of the Rock. I lay there panting for a second.

When I got my breath back, I shifted and sat up, looking up at the bracken in front of me. I smiled as I saw Shenzi, Banzai and Ed in front. "Ah, my friends..." I said, standing up and taking a small step towards them.

Shenzi chuckled. "Friends? I thought he said we were the enemy," She said, turning to Banzai. "Right?"

"Yeah." He said murderously.

Then both of them said. "Ed?"

Ed laughed in a way that I had never heard before and licked his lips, and the rest of the hyena clan appeared out of the smoke. They advanced toward me, while I stuttered and tried to stop them, but it wasn't enough. My hindquarters pressed against the rock, I covered my face with one foreleg and when that didn't stop them, I shielded myself with my other foreleg, slipping down onto the ground and sitting on it, my back legs curling up, pressing into my stomach.

Shenzi leapt at my throat, her teeth sinking through my mane, trying to get at the tender skin underneath the hair, I was pushed onto the ground as the rest of the clan leapt onto my lithe form. Pain erupted through my body as teeth dug under my skin and tugged at it, I roared as one hyena succeeded in pulling away the skin on my left flank.

Shenzi was still gnawing at my throat and I just about had enough of it; I reached up with my paw and scraped my claws down her back, she yelped and released my neck. As soon as her head was visible, my claws raked down her face and ripped down her eye, she howled and went to bite me, but instead found herself inside my mouth and my teeth pressing into her skin.

My jaws were rather strong and her brain was crushed as I bit down harder and harder. I threw her body away and a sick grin crawled onto my face as her body connected with the wall of Pride Rock and emitted a sickening crunch.

I then turned my attention to the other hyenas. I clawed at them and struck them down, sending them flying into the flames, I managed to regain my paws and the upper hand. Many bit at my legs, trying to make me fall to the ground, at which I sank my teeth into the necks of the ones latched to my forelegs, dislodged them and threw them into the flames, while the ones clutching to my back legs were kicked off. It was strange that some of the distrustful animals seemed almost hesitant to attack, probably from the sight of such a scrawny lion striking down what were once his hyena comrades.

And it was actually the flames that saved me; the hyenas were slowly being burnt as the fire crawled towards me. It was around three feet from burning me alive and there were only around eleven hyenas left, so I took a chance and jumped. I leapt onto a hyena and then pushed off towards the flames, if I could leap through fire when attacking my nephew, I could leap through it to escape my death.

My paws hit the ground running; I was running away from, not only my death, but my nephew, mate and cubs too. Zira, Nuka and a newborn Vitani would surely be told that I was dead. I sighed I thought of my Zira, my beautiful mate who was expecting our third cub. But I couldn't think about that now, I had to get away from Pride Rock, so I kept running.

It wasn't exactly easy thinking of a plan when searing pain, blood slowly trickling down your body and the deafening roar of the flames behind you all acted as distractions. I turned my head over my shoulder as the rain started to patter down and the roar of the new king greeted my ears. I gritted my teeth in pain and anger; the flames were quenched, just like my reign. I collapsed on my stomach under a huge baobab tree. The last thing I saw was a small, limping shape with a stick before my vision blurred and swirled into darkness.

_Ahadi. No. "You are dead to me, Taka, you will never amount to anything," He roared. "Mufasa was always better than you. And you proved that when you murdered him."_

_Mufasa. "Don't wake up, Taka, join us in death," He said. "It's what you deserve."_

_Uru. Mother. "Taka, how could you?"_

_Tamu. Stop. Stop. End it. Now. I don't want to hear what my daughter thinks. "Dad, you could have saved me. I could be here if you had just hurried up."_

_Stop._

_Send me into an eternal darkness._


	2. It Starts

"Scar, wake up, you need to get out of here." A voice penetrated the comfy fog that enveloped my brain.

I moaned and blinked open my eyes. Blurred shapes greeted me as my eyelids disappeared from my view. "Rafiki?" I muttered.

"Yes, I've patched you up, but you need to go," Rafiki said, pushing me to my paws. "You'll heal in time."

I learnt how to walk again quickly, my vision wasn't blurry and I knew where I would go: The Roguelands. I would go to Zira when I was strong enough. I climbed out of the tree and made my way to the south. In the opposite direction to the Pridelands.

The rain was still hammering down and my mane was quickly stuck to my head. I just kept walking. Thoughts flicked through my mind, many involving how to kill and torture my nephew. I would kill Nala, Zazu, that stupid warthog and meerkat that trailed around with him and I would kill his mother, and once he was emotionally crippled, I would kill _him_.

I remembered the days that he would clamber all over me, as I was laying on the ground.

_My paws were suspended in the air, rocks digging into my back, my cream belly being walked upon as my nephew played 'Hunter'._

_"What are you doing, cub?" I grumbled._

_"Shh, Uncle," Simba whispered. "I'm almost within pouncing distance of that beetle."_

_I rolled my eyes and decided to humour the cub. "What beetle?" I whispered._

_"The one on your tummy." Paws dug painfully into my abdomen as the cub made his way towards his 'prey'. I felt him brace his tiny body and then pounced. My breath came out in a gust of air and Simba cried with glee._

_"I did it, I did it, Uncle! I caught the beetle." Simba leapt off me and plopped something down at my head._

_I rolled onto my side and inspected the thing. "That's not a beetle," I said. "That's a stone."_

_"But...It looks like a beetle." Simba protested._

_"No, it doesn't," I said. "How many beetles have you seen that are perfectly round?"_

_"Well..."_

_"Exactly."_

The memory made me growl; the cub had been so naive then, he didn't care about anything, only being king.

I looked up at the sky, squinting at the rain pouring down. It was stormy grey and covered with clouds, no light visible at all.

Just like my heart.

It would never be light again, I will spend my life in eternal darkness, an aura of villainy surrounding me. I am the villain of my own story, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Three days passed, the rain had stopped, the lakes refilled, my bandages come off. Scabs littered my body, not deep enough to become scars. Except one: My left flank was badly ripped, starting from my the top of my shoulder and snaking down in ribbons to my elbow. It had scabbed over, but was no doubt the most serious wound on my body.

Stupid hyenas, three quarters of the pack had chickened out and legged it. The rest were either killed by my claws or the flames.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice an Ethiopian Wolf laying on the ground. I stumbled over him and almost fell over.

"What the-?" A cry erupted from the wolf and he leapt to his paws. "Who are you, lion?" He growled.

"I'm Scar. And you are?" I snapped. I was much bigger than this canine, but I highly doubted that I could beat him in a fight.

"I am Moyo. Where are you going?"

"Roguelands." I said shortly.

"Why?"

"Exiled."

"What'd you do?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"If we're going to be travel buddies, then yes." Moyo started to walk alongside me.

"Who said anything about 'travel buddies'?" I snapped.

"You looked lonely."

"Well, I'm not." I growled.

"You're a lion-" Moyo started.

"Wow, you must be a detective."

Sadly, Moyo ignored me. "Lions are meant to be in Prides."

"You're a funny looking Pride."

"I'm the only friend you have right now," Moyo smirked at me. "So, you'd better start talking."

I sighed, keeping my attention on the path to my future home. I was barely five miles from Rafiki's tree. "I was exiled because I refused to give up my kingdom when the prince grew up," I said. "Mufasa, the late king, died, I took over as his son, Simba, was too young to take the throne. When he grew up...I refused to let go of the crown. Thus, Simba fought me, and then exiled me." I said.

"Ah, you're royalty," Moyo said. "Mufasa was your brother, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have taken the throne."

"Well done, you _do_ understand hierarchy, then?"

"Of course I do. I'm not thick." Moyo said defensively.

"Well...Debatable."

Moyo said nothing.

Shame, I was looking forward to a bit of banter, I was starved of it when I became king.


	3. One Little Problem

"Who are you?" The grey, blood-stained lion with a snow white mane snarled.

"None of your business." I growled. Both of us were in a fighting stance, ready to pounce if a fight rose its head.

"You're in my territory."

"Our." A creamy-furred lion with a tree brown mane spoke up. He was standing behind the grey male - who was clearly dominant - and was also ready to fight.

"Our territory then."

"It's still none of your business," I bared my teeth at the strangers. "And do you have a Pride then? Run by yourself?" I completely ignored the cream lion behind the grey.

"No, just us two."

Something wasn't right. He said it too quickly. His voice was...Off. I was an experienced liar, I could practically smell a lie.. But I would go along with his little game. To save the trouble of referring to him as 'the grey one', I will call him, 'Kijivu'.

"Huh, so why have you claimed a territory of your own?"

Kijivu snarled. "Why is that any of your business?"

"Because if I am to be on it, I need to know why."

"We're the toughest Rogues around, this is our right."

I grinned my nose up. "And it's my _right_ to cross your land, because I am on my way to the Roguelands."

"The Roguelands are that way," Kijivu said, pointing to the west with his nose. "And you won't even put a paw on our land."

"But if I go through your land, I'll get to my destination within a day, but if I go your way, it'll take me months."

"It's true, boss." The creamy lion spoke up.

"Quiet, Malai, we don't want a pair of trespassers on our land." Kijivu snapped.

I looked down at Moyo. "Come on then." I said. And walked off to the west.

The Ethiopian wolf trotted after me. "Why are we going this way? Why not just argue a bit more?" He said in a hushed voice.

"Because," I said exasperatedly. "I'll let them think we're doing as they say. We'll cut across their territory and get to the Roguelands quicker than I can flick my tail." I said.

A glint danced in my eye. Such a glint that I hadn't had since the stampede. One of triumph. One of self-boasting. One of pride.

"So...What happens if they catch us?"

"Oh please," I scoffed. "They couldn't catch a cold in the middle of winter. Let alone us."

Moyo shrugged. "Just don't come crying to me when it all goes wrong." He said.

* * *

We had stopped for the night underneath a rock that offered a canopy of some sort. It was my miniature Pride Rock and I sat on its pointed peak, looking out at the slowly descending sun. I had done this with Mufasa when we were cubs...But I was not going to think about that anymore, I hadn't for five years, my reign had been brief...But worth it. I would make them suffer again. Whether they liked it or not.

"Scar?" Moyo's voice broke through my reverie.

I sighed. "What do you want?"

"I got us some food."

"Not hungry." I said shortly.

"It doesn't look as though you've eaten for a while. You need-"

"I said," I said calmly. "I'm not hungry."

"Scar..."

"Leave me alone."

"Are you regretting your past mistakes?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back...

"**I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!**" I roared. My fur bristled and I turned my head over my shoulder to look at Moyo's defiant glare.

"I don't care about what you _have_ done, you can tell me anything and I won't judge you for it."

"Anything?"

"Anything. What you have done in the past doesn't matter anymore. It's who you are _now_ that counts."

"I haven't changed. I'm still..." I trailed off. What was I? Was I evil? The villain? A psychopath? A sociopath? Most certainly a sociopath; I separated myself from others, took myself into a secluded corner and stood alone. A psychopath? I had murdered my brother and solved things with violence...We'll put that down to a maybe. The villain? I had once said that I was the villain of my own story, and yet I was the hero of it as well. Evil? Probably.

"I'm still everything that I was. Everything that made me unpopular. Everything that killed my brother." I said.

Moyo blinked dumbly. "_You_ killed...Your _brother_?" He said.

"Yes, that's how I got the throne." I said.

I looked away from the wolf and stared back at the now dark sky. Stars were blinking at me. Teasing and jeering at me for the mistakes I have made. I almost wanted to throw my head back and laugh; those were not mistakes, they were the right things to do.


	4. One Witness, One Friend

I stayed up on that little peak all night, drifting between sleeping and staring at the sky and spotting constellations. After my argument with Moyo, I didn't feel like talking to him, so I didn't. I set off again without him.

I was walking slowly, doubting that I would hear the gentle pat of dog paws. I didn't. So I kept walking. I didn't need him anyway, I could stand up for myself. I could fight and hunt. So maybe I wasn't as fast as the canine or as proficient with my hearing, but I could make it on my own. Always had done.

What was the difference? If I could live out in the Elephant Graveyard as an adolescent, then I could make my way to the Roguelands on my own. If that wolf couldn't cope with my treason, then he could shove off anyway. I mean, honestly, you say that you murdered your own brother and suddenly everyone is appalled. That sentence sounded a lot better in my mind...

Ignoring my thoughts tossing themselves around my head, often hitting my skull painfully, I walked on. Paws pressed into the ground in front of me, leaving paw prints in the mud. My ears pricked at a rustle in the bushes. Moyo?

A growl rumbled through the air. Definitely not a canine. I squinted at the bush. A slash of cream. A flash of blue.

A lioness leaping onto my chest.

I caught my senses quickly, teeth bared and rolled back so that we tumbled, trying to pin each other. Surprisingly, I slammed my back paws into the ground and forced the lioness down onto her back. A gasp escaped her mouth and she looked up at me, shocked. I, too, was shocked, I didn't think I had the strength to pin a lioness, let alone one younger than me.

My teeth were bared in her face. My sides heaved with the exertion of pinning the much younger female. Sweat glistened on both of our pelts. I blinked, the rest of my face immobile, as I recognised the lioness.

"Scar?" She said.

"Nala." I replied. It was not a question, I knew who she was as soon as I saw her eyes. I snarled ferociously.

"How are you...?" She trailed off, gaping at me.

"Nothing has happened. Got it? You didn't ever see me." I said.

The shock had subsided. For both of us. Nala bared her teeth savagely. "How dare you?!" She roared. "You destroyed the Pridelands. You starved us and the hyenas. You betrayed _Mufasa_," She revelled in the way I cringed as she mentioned my brother's name. "You betrayed Simba. You betrayed _me_."

I took a double-take as she said the final name. Her. I had not betrayed _her_.

"Excuse me?" I said. "How have I betrayed you? You have nothing to do with me! I am not your father, not your brother, nor your Uncle. I am not of any relation to you. So _how_, pray tell, have I betrayed _you_?"

"Mum says that you and her had an _understanding_ when you were cubs."

"No. We didn't. Your mother was there for me during one of the...Darkest times of my life," I said. My left, scarred eye almost felt heavy as I became aware of which time I was talking about. "But we never...Shared love." I felt awkward saying this to such a lioness.

"So...But I...You're not...My...Father?"

"Of course not!" I cried indignantly. I got off of her and started to walk off. I turned my head slightly, revealing my scabbed muzzle to the younger lioness. "Tell no one of my survival. If you must assume yourself mad and believe you have seen a ghost, then do so. But no one must find out." I left Nala there and continued my way to the Roguelands.

* * *

I soon put Nala's appearance out of my mind, she was nothing to me, no concern of my own. I had barely made any progress with my journey at all, interruptions kept...What was that?

A rustle in the tall long, dry grass distracted me from my thoughts. My ears pricked and my nose quivered as I scented...It couldn't be...Could it?

"Scar!" He cried.

I smiled, despite myself.

"I didn't think you'd show up again." I smiled.


	5. Looming Dread

I dropped my smile. "So, you aren't...Still sore over our argument?" I said.

"Of course not," He said. "I understand that you're proud of who you are...Whether it be for good or bad."

"Why did you ask if I was regretting my past mistakes?"

"I had a...Friend that...Went off of his food for days on end..." Moyo sighed. "Because he regretted arguing with his mother and disowning her."

"So you've seen this kind of thing first hand?"

Moyo nodded.

"I suppose we had best get walking again then." I turned and started to pad away.

Moyo trotted after me and I focused on the path in front of me. It had been marked by the heavy stomping of elephants, hippos and rhinos that seemed to have been hired - in a sense - to mark the fine line between freedom and Kijivu's Pride.

If I and Moyo stayed on the aforementioned path, no one could say that we were in another Pride's territory.

"Scar?"

If I could stay out of sight of any other lions, then I would be alright.

"Scar?"

I can't be attacked, not at such a crucial point in my physical health, it would be game over if another stronger lion picked a fight. But I had pinned Nala...Hadn't I? But then...A male lion would probably be stronger...

"SCAR!" Moyo's yell intruded my mind.

"What? I'm mulling things over here!" I growled. "What on earth can be so important that you have to snatch my attention away from the matter of surviving this trek?"

"Why don't you just join that grey lion's Pride? If you're so sure that he has one."

"I don't just go for second-hand offers," I said. "I have pride, and I wouldn't be able to leave. I want to go to the Outlands...To see my mate again."

Moyo looked away.

"And you wouldn't be able to stay with me." I flattered.

Moyo blushed. "Thanks."

"Why are you blushing? It's kind of creepy."

"No one ever flatters me nowadays."

"And it deserved a blush? Blimey, I'm better at this than I thought." Narcissism dripped from my words.

Moyo grunted and trotted further ahead of me on the path. While I stayed at a leisurely pace. We travelled like this for some time, around a week.

* * *

"I'm going to find something to eat, I'll bring you some back if you want." The wolf called, his head turned to the side, revealing his muzzle and only his muzzle to me.

"I suppose so, have fun," I said. As Moyo turned off the path, a thought occurred to me. "You'll be able to find me again, won't you?"

Moyo laughed. "Of course," He called back. "I can smell you from miles away."

* * *

The wolf hadn't come back yet.

It had been a couple of hours and I was waiting on top of a flat, sloping rock. The point of it reaching towards the sky. My lithe form was slumped on it, left back paw and right front paw hanging lazily off the solid nature structure. My jugular rested on my forepaw that was still flopped on the rock, my chin fur was splayed out on the grey stone, the wind ruffling it.

I was bored.

Very bored.

And hungry.

My stomach growled incessantly at me. Slowly driving me mad with annoyance.

Soon, I had had enough. I thrust my head up and got to my paws. I understood that hunting took time, but this wolf was excellent at the task, it took under half an hour to catch a rabbit a few days ago, so what had changed?

Was he hunting larger prey? Unlikely. Wolves aren't as stocky as felines, as Moyo had told me irritably when I had questioned him about it:

_"Why is it that Ethiopian wolves are too cowardly to try and hunt larger prey? Say, zebra or wildebeest." I commented casually, picking at my claws._

_"Because, my single minded friend," Moyo said exasperatedly. "Us wolves aren't as stocky as you felines. It's not about courage, it's simply science, evolution, logic. We are noticeably smaller and lither than lions, and a wildebeest would kill us in a minute."_

_"Huh, maybe you should try and hunt one, it would lessen my headache a bit at least."_

I shook my head angrily. No good getting side-tracked now. Where was I? Ah, yes...

So, hunting larger prey was off the list. Could he have suffered an unfortunate accident? Again, unlikely, the wolf had an annoying habit of coping with pain. His paw had twisted in a tree root once last week and he had managed to walk on it. So that was knocked off too.

Several nonsensical options flipped through my mind, most of them full of plot holes and problems. But one of them sent something off in my mind: What if Moyo had wandered into Kijivu's land and been killed or kidnapped?

This was something I needed to look into.


	6. A Surprise

I returned to the path that also acted as a border and squinted at the land in front of me. I hadn't noticed how barren and dry the land was. Skulls littered the ground, bones were shoved around in piles and logs lay unwanted and alone. I stepped forward with no regard for my own safety.

It was a strange feeling, knowing that I was in another Pride's territory, a tension clouded around me, pressing into my skin, nipping at my ankles and pulling on my mane. Or maybe it was the wind pressing into my skin and pulling my mane. Maybe it was just the thorns, twigs, stones and sand nipping at my ankles. Not everything had to be a metaphor.

I shook my head, trying to dislodge my thoughts and focus on the task at hand. I sucked in air through my nose, my eyes closed. I tried to find the scent of Moyo. It would smell dirty, muddy, mangy and would generally just smell nasty. Not much different to the hyenas.

I raised my head in different angles, my nose pointing the sky, then the ground, side to side. Jeez, finding a wolf was hard.

I gave up on smelling Moyo out and decided to look for signs; paw prints, fur, marks. Anything that would lead me to the wolf.

A couple of miles of walking and a voice dragged me out my thoughts. "Well, well, well, I must have misheard myself. The dog magnet is back."

I looked up disinterestedly. "Oh, hello again." I smiled.

A chuckle escaped the second party's throat. And a paw brought itself down my face. My eye, my scarred eye, started to pound with a white hot, searing pain, reaching back into my brain and giving me a bit of déjà vu. I was knocked to the floor, clamping a paw over my eye. The paw knocked me over the head and my vision swam.

Darkness melted over my eyes.

All sense was lost.

* * *

"Hey," A voice grumbled in my ear. My shoulder was shaken. "Hey, Zero Hero, wake up."

I moaned. "What do you want?" I slurred.

"I want you wake up." Persistent voice is persistent.

I cracked my eyes open, the light blinding me. "Ugh..." I groaned. "Where am I?"

My eyes quickly adjusted and the fuzzy form of Moyo greeted me. "Oh, lovely," I drawled. "My trepid adventure to find my canine companion went down an absolute treat," Sarcasm was my middle name. "Now, would you care to tell me where the hell we are?"

"We, after your confidence that we wouldn't be caught, we are in Kijivu's land," Moyo growled. "In his den, to be exact."

"Great," I said, raising my head. My head swirled as a white hot, acute pain smarted in my left eye. "This is your fault, you know."

"What? How?!"

"If you hadn't wandered off and stuck with me, we wouldn't be in this tight spot."

"You shouldn't have come after me then."

"Doesn't matter now," I snapped. "Why does my eye hurt?"

"Someone scratched you and tore open your scar and gave you two fresh cuts on either side of it," Moyo said. "Kijivu dragged you in here and left without a word."

"Ugh."

Nothing more was said for a long time.


End file.
